National Catholic Reporter

I hope Bishop Sean Patrick O'Malley has enjoyed wintering in South Florida. In a turnaround as quick as a snowbird's, it looks like he's heading back north. If news reports are correct, O'Malley is about to be named the new archbishop of Boston only eight months after he came down here to take the reins of the Palm Beach Diocese. The National Catholic Reporter said Monday that the Vatican might announce O'Malley's appointment as early as today. For O'Malley, who has become known as an aggressive mop-up man in the church's sorry sex-abuse scandals, moving to Boston means stepping up to the major leagues of messes.

Priests from the Diocese of Palm Beach now have a more dignified place to go when they die. The entry road that serves as the priests' section of Our Lady Queen of Peace Cemetery in Royal Palm Beach is getting spruced up, with 30 newly planted royal palms, a statue of St. Peter and a sculpture by a local, retired priest upgrading the median. The Priest Memorial Project, a campaign to raise money to renovate the burial area, began in 2009 during the Vatican's Year for Priests, which ended in June 2010.

Among the God-starved in Cuba, Pope John Paul II is likely to bask in days of large crowds and appreciative worshipers this week, when public Masses push aside state-enforced secularism. Despite ideological and theological differences, John Paul and Cuban President Fidel Castro are hardly enemies. In late 1996, the Marxist dictator visited the pope in the Vatican, to invite him to Cuba and its flock of 500,000 practicing Roman Catholics out of a population of 11 million. Castro, son of a Catholic mother and educated in Catholic schools, has not persecuted priests and nuns in the brutal way other Latin American despots have.

The Roman Catholic bishop of Colorado Springs has issued a pastoral letter saying that Catholic Americans should not receive Communion if they vote for politicians who defy church teaching by supporting abortion rights, same-sex marriage, euthanasia or stem-cell research. Several bishops in the United States have warned that they will deny Communion to Catholic politicians who fail to stand with the church, but Bishop Michael J. Sheridan of Colorado Springs is believed to be the first to announce that he would extend the ban to Catholic voters.

The Roman Catholic bishop of Colorado Springs has issued a pastoral letter saying that Catholic Americans should not receive Communion if they vote for politicians who defy church teaching by supporting abortion rights, same-sex marriage, euthanasia or stem-cell research. Several bishops in the United States have warned that they will deny Communion to Catholic politicians who fail to stand with the church, but Bishop Michael J. Sheridan of Colorado Springs is believed to be the first to announce that he would extend the ban to Catholic voters.

ABC has picked up nine more episodes of the heartfelt religious drama Nothing Sacred, starring Kevin Anderson as a sexy Catholic priest, Father Ray, who sometimes doubts his faith, waxes glib and ironic _ and still cares passionately for his largely poor urban parish. Yet the pickup does not mean Sacred will lead a long, charmed life. Its ratings are dangerously low. On the surface, ABC looks bold and brave for saving an acclaimed show that is teetering on the ratings brink. It ordered the pickup despite a much-hyped boycott of the show's advertisers mounted by William Donohue, president of the New York-based Catholic League.

Priests from the Diocese of Palm Beach now have a more dignified place to go when they die. The entry road that serves as the priests' section of Our Lady Queen of Peace Cemetery in Royal Palm Beach is getting spruced up, with 30 newly planted royal palms, a statue of St. Peter and a sculpture by a local, retired priest upgrading the median. The Priest Memorial Project, a campaign to raise money to renovate the burial area, began in 2009 during the Vatican's Year for Priests, which ended in June 2010.

In his ongoing denials, Cardinal Bernard Law said you cannot compare his role at the head of the Archdiocese of Boston to running a big business. Law said, "It's important to remember that a bishop is not a corporate executive, is not a politician the role of a bishop in relationship to the church he serves is something different. It's the role of a pastor, the role of a teacher, the role of a father." It is sickening to see someone claim the role of father after abandoning so many boys to the abuse of former priest John Geoghan.

The new pope hasn't been chosen yet, but several authors already have made plans to write his life story. John Allen, the well-wired Vatican correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter, has signed on to produce a biography of the new pope for sale in May by Doubleday. Greg Tobin, a former publishing executive whose own books include Selecting the Pope, also will turn out a biography of the new pope in May for Barnes & Noble's Sterling imprint. Father Andrew Greeley -- the sociologist, best-selling novelist, syndicated columnist and ABC commentator -- will pen The Making of the Pope 2005 for Little, Brown.

I hope Bishop Sean Patrick O'Malley has enjoyed wintering in South Florida. In a turnaround as quick as a snowbird's, it looks like he's heading back north. If news reports are correct, O'Malley is about to be named the new archbishop of Boston only eight months after he came down here to take the reins of the Palm Beach Diocese. The National Catholic Reporter said Monday that the Vatican might announce O'Malley's appointment as early as today. For O'Malley, who has become known as an aggressive mop-up man in the church's sorry sex-abuse scandals, moving to Boston means stepping up to the major leagues of messes.

In his ongoing denials, Cardinal Bernard Law said you cannot compare his role at the head of the Archdiocese of Boston to running a big business. Law said, "It's important to remember that a bishop is not a corporate executive, is not a politician the role of a bishop in relationship to the church he serves is something different. It's the role of a pastor, the role of a teacher, the role of a father." It is sickening to see someone claim the role of father after abandoning so many boys to the abuse of former priest John Geoghan.

Among the God-starved in Cuba, Pope John Paul II is likely to bask in days of large crowds and appreciative worshipers this week, when public Masses push aside state-enforced secularism. Despite ideological and theological differences, John Paul and Cuban President Fidel Castro are hardly enemies. In late 1996, the Marxist dictator visited the pope in the Vatican, to invite him to Cuba and its flock of 500,000 practicing Roman Catholics out of a population of 11 million. Castro, son of a Catholic mother and educated in Catholic schools, has not persecuted priests and nuns in the brutal way other Latin American despots have.

ABC has picked up nine more episodes of the heartfelt religious drama Nothing Sacred, starring Kevin Anderson as a sexy Catholic priest, Father Ray, who sometimes doubts his faith, waxes glib and ironic _ and still cares passionately for his largely poor urban parish. Yet the pickup does not mean Sacred will lead a long, charmed life. Its ratings are dangerously low. On the surface, ABC looks bold and brave for saving an acclaimed show that is teetering on the ratings brink. It ordered the pickup despite a much-hyped boycott of the show's advertisers mounted by William Donohue, president of the New York-based Catholic League.

Church leaders may soon be peppering sermons with talk of flexible freezes and revenue enhancements. The biggest interdenominational news of the season is debt. The Vatican`s deficit for 1987 was a record at $63.8 million. A special commission of cardinals overseeing Vatican finances warned that the deficit will be greater in 1988. Financial difficulties were high on the agenda when the National Council of Churches governing board met this month. Since 1975, support from the ecumenical body`s 32 groups, which include mainline Protestant denominations, major black churches and Eastern Orthodox ones, has remained level.

During the past few months, the Bush administration has launched an unprecedented assault on the separation of church and state for political gain. First, President Bush personally requested that the Vatican try to get American bishops to become more politically active on his behalf. Second, the Bush-Cheney campaign issued a written guide for religious conservatives that is designed, among other things, to get directories of church members into the hands of campaign operatives. In May, Bishop Michael Sheridan of Colorado Springs threatened to deny Holy Communion to any member of his diocese who votes for a candidate supporting abortion, same-sex marriage, euthanasia or embryonic stem cell research "until they have recanted their positions and been reconciled with God and the church."